DCA cinema ticket stub turns 'collector's item' after comic book artist's tribute

The Courier

23-05-2025

Superhero films have divided critics recently, but they're back in a big way this year.
Marvel's Thunderbolts*, starring Florence Pugh, was confirmed this week as having made more than 300 million dollars (£222m) at the box office, making it the fourth biggest film of 2025 so far.
Thunderbolts is the latest in a long line of superhero cinema smashes from the Marvel comic book universe.
Yet when Dundee comic artist Dan McDaid saw Thunderbolts*, it wasn't the action scenes and fighting which connected with him, so much as the film's unexpected focus on mental health issues.
It would spoiler the film to go into detail, but more than one character in it has depression.
McDaid was so inspired by how Thunderbolts* discussed mental health, that he's drawn the team of anti-heroes on his cinema ticket from Dundee Contemporary Arts and is auctioning it on eBay for the UK mental health charity Mind.
'I feel like the Marvel films had been growing a little uneven and lacklustre over the last few years, and there was too much additional homework needed to understand what was going on,' says McDaid, who has lived in Dundee for twenty years and is originally from Cornwall.
'Thunderbolts* was refreshingly free of that. It's incredibly exciting and very funny, but it also goes out of its way to say something about mental health issues and dealing with trauma.'
As one of the leading comic artists in the UK, who has drawn the adventures of such diverse and well-known characters as Superman, Judge Dredd and Doctor Who, as well as previously working with Trainspotting novelist Irvine Welsh, anything McDaid puts his pen to is a collector's item.
This auction, then, is a means of drawing attention to mental health issues in a different way.
'The idea just popped into my head,' he says. 'I'd been to see the film once, loved it, went to see it again, loved it even more, and felt very moved by the movie's themes.
'I think everyone has someone in their lives who has been touched by mental health issues, so the theme is universal, and this film tackles it in such an intelligent and accessible way.
'Anyway, I looked at my big DCA ticket stub, thought 'you could probably fit a pretty nice sketch on that' and just went for it. Mind seemed the most obvious beneficiary of the auction.'
As well as paying tribute to the film and helping a good cause, McDaid's auction also tips its hat to Dundee Contemporary Arts, which has shared his auction on its social media.
'The DCA is the jewel in Dundee's crown for me, a world class arts cinema with a great restaurant, bar and creative hub for local artistic talent,' he says. 'I'm down there usually a few times a month, either for a drink or to catch a film. It's also one of the few cinemas that still offers a proper ticket stub instead of a simple receipt, and long may it continue.'
The auction ends on Saturday May 24.